Sappy Dog Blogging

I’m appropriating the title of this post from William the Coroner who likes to post pictures of his cats on Fridays.

This isn’t going to turn into a blog about my animals, I promise.

However … when I got home from running errands this afternoon, I walked into our basement to find something that I found utterly frustrating and funny – at the same time. And I swear that I didn’t retouch the picture or the scene.

Our beloved new puppy was nowhere to be found on the main floor of our house. She wasn’t sleeping in her cage. She wasn’t accidentally locked in our closet upstairs. So I went into our basement to look for her. She and our other dog like to run around down there. When I got down the stairs, I found her chewing … not on one of the 15 or 20 chew toys that we have purchased for her, but instead on another roll of toilet paper. This is a daily thing. It’s like she’s part gerbil and has this incredible urge to make bedding for herself, but then forgets where to put the bedding.

I ran back up the stairs to get my camera – half laughing and half cussing. Only when I returned and began to frame the picture did I notice the title of the book that was laying on the ground in the midst of the mess.

ha ha! This just w-a-r-m-s my heart …in a misery loves company kind of way. :)

Because … a couple of days ago, I woke up to see our adopted (adult) dog had pulled all the stuffing out of the cushion in her bed and spread it all around the room …and not the first time. I just keep stuffing it back in. Funny ..but frustrating.

Hey … for Christmas …you could give her a Costco sized pack of TP. Just imagine what she could do with that. Maybe she read the book too. ;)

Have you considered crate training?? I HIGHLY recommend the book “Mother Knows Best” by Carol Lea Benjamin, as she walks us humans through training (not punishing) a puppy or older dog the way his own mother would have trained him?

Keeps puppy and the house safe … we have used this method for 20 years on many dogs, and it works. And no, I do not have ANY association with Ms. Benjamin, financial or otherwise. She just “gets” dogs. Good luck!

The puppy is already crate trained. She just goes off on scavenger hunts any time that someone isn’t keeping an eye on her.
The good news is that she just started showing interest in chewing on one of her rawhide bones, so maybe there is hope!

My younger cat does that, we have keep toilet paper out of her reach, which is kinda hard! The puppy probly would but since its already out of the cat’s reach its out of his. Bet she’d love her own cardboard box!

The last few days ..I have found chewed splintered wood on the rug. First thought was OMG ..the coffee table, etc. Then realized it was the children’s building block. But then another and another and I thought what the heck ..did she stash them somewhere?

And then I realized, she was taking them out of the cloth bag I had sitting on an end table from when the babies were here a few days ago. DUH!

So ..3 strikes and she’s out! And I was always planning on getting more, because she usually absconds with them when they fall to the floor during play.

In the past few months, my 11-year old yellow lab has gone from chewing up used tissue (ugh!) from the trash, to emptying out the whole box of tissues, to taking the spare roll of TP out of the bathroom and chewing it up. Not enough roughage in her diet?